To Share or Not to Share…or to Sell?

Education Week recently published an article on their website that touched upon some issues Teachers Pay Teachers sellers had or were experiencing with the selling of their products on the TPT platform. The author also delves into the “ethics of selling vs. sharing” – which reminded me of a blog entry that I had started quite a few months ago and thought I would revisit for this week’s blog post.

I’ve had a few conversations recently with various colleagues about sharing versus not sharing materials and documents that teachers – myself included – have created. What is OK to share? What isn’t? Here are some thoughts to consider…

I’ve been a Teachers Pay Teachers seller since about 2012 – six years! Now, I don’t run a store that’s making me enough money where I can retire from my day job and stay home and focus on my TPT making (although I wish I did!) I don’t even make enough annually to pay for a nice family vacation. I started my TPT store with the intention of putting products up that I made for my own classroom use – products that other teachers might find useful and that might earn me a couple of extra bucks on the side. I did not start my store with the goal of leaving the classroom or making more annually than I do as a teacher (which, some TPT sellers do!) I was simply working my side hustle.

With that being said, I have invested in my TPT store and purchased commercial fonts, clip art, and the licenses that go with those in order to sell products that are pleasing to the eye and that fellow teachers would be proud to use in their classrooms. Fonts, clip art, and commercial licenses are NOT cheap – especially if you don’t sell tons of stuff! But I did it – and continue to do it – because that’s what a responsible seller does.

So when it comes to teachers sharing TPT purchases without purchasing the additional licenses – as a seller myself – it irks me and I try to encourage my colleagues to see why additional licenses are important (and why sellers aren’t just doing it to make an extra buck!) We aren’t trying to swindle you…but we also shoulder costs for our products that may go unnoticed or unknown to buyers.

Now, my take on products I make in the G-Suite is a little different. I tend to want to share what I make with other educators! Things like graphic organizers, newsletters, Docs templates – fairly generic items that any teacher could manipulate and use in his or her classroom. I know that there are teachers out there who do put more effort than I do into my G-Suite creations and subsequently feel the need to sell their products (and I totally get that). But, I tend to be of the “sharing is caring” mentality when it comes to my G-Suite products.

This leads us to the bigger question – when do (or should) we share? And what do we share? With the way we teach constantly changing and the need for lessons to address the 4 C’s of 21st-century learning, teachers should be actively trying to work with and collaborate with other teachers. (That’s kind of the whole point behind the collaborative component of the G-Suite apps – getting “collaborators” to work on documents TOGETHER). I think this also means the sharing of valuable resources that other teachers could use in their own classrooms and inspire their colleagues to use.

I know that lessons can be a beast – and that many educators want to put a price tag on their hard work and upload it to TPT as soon as possible. (Again, I get it…I’ve been there.) But I also think of all the educators who post their hard work to share with others – Eric Curts (Control Alt Achieve), Lisa Highfill and the HyperDoc girls (HyperDocs), and the entire #TeachersGiveTeachers movement – without asking so much as a penny (just a simple “give credit where credit is due”). If educators were more open and willing to share their QUALITY resources and templates, can you only imagine the effect it would have on our students?

If you’re ready to share your lessons with other educators, make sure to check out fellow SMC Shannon Talbado’s blog post here for more pointers!

Kristin Oropeza

Kristin Oropeza is currently a TK-5th Grade Technology TOSA in Southern California. She holds a masters in special education and has worked in public education for over 10 years. Kristin also serves as a director on the CUE Los Angeles board and acts as their Communications Editor. Find her on Twitter @KristinOropeza.